52 Ancestors, Week 9: Gone Too Soon

Infant mortality was a common occurence among our ancestors. With no modern vaccines, illnesses could affect whole families. How did young parents cope with the death of not just one, but two (or more) children? 

_____

Many of my paternal grandmother's family are interred at Old White Cemetery in Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa. In addition to great-grandma Iowa Hale Speed, her husband William Speed and her brother, Landon Hale, are there. So, too, are her son William Stotts, son of Iowa and her first husband, John Benton Stotts. 

William married Myrtle Spencer, daughter of J. W. Spencer and Lizzie Tarr, in 1904 in Oskaloosa. On 23 September of that year they welcomed their firstborn, a son, Joseph. Two years later, they welcomed another son, Charles.

What hopes and dreams they likely had of raising two strapping sons! But it was not to be. Joe died of dysentery July 31, 1906 at the age of 1 year, 10 months, and 7 days. His gravestone is engraved:

   Our Joe

   1904-1906

Charley died of cholera infantum on 16 August 1907 at the age of 1 year, 3 months and 13 days. Cholera infantum was an often fatal gastrointestinal disorder, often prevalent during summer months. Charley's gravestone reads:

Our Charley

1906-1907

Unfortunately, the person who created the Find A Grave memorial has incorrectly identified Joe and Charley as children of Iowa Hale Stotts Speed and her husband, William Speed, who are buried adjacent to the boys and whose stones are in the same design, likely paid for by William Stotts. I submitted edits for these stones, but as of today they are still linked to the wrong parents.

_______________

My paternal grandfather's family had its share of tragedy. I previously wrote about the death of Grandpa's uncle Charles Herrick, for whom Grandpa was likely named. Grandpa Charles's aunt, Jennie Herrick, and her husband James Osborn Mitchell lived in Canonsburg, Washington County, Pennsylvania. Jennie and James already had two children, Jean and Walter, when the couple welcomed twin sons — James Alexander Mitchell and his twin, William Herrick Mitchell — in mid-February of 1911. 

As with Charley Stotts in Iowa four years previously, cholera infantum struck. The twins were 5 months old. William died on 19 July 1911, and James on 23 July. A news item began, "Twice within a week death visited the home of Mr. and Mrs. James O. Mitchell, Highland Avenue, Canonsburg..." It ends by saying "Mrs. Mitchell was formerly Miss Jennie Herrick and she has been nearly prostrated by this double misfortune."

The twins are interred at Oak Spring Cemetery in Canonsburg. The Find A Grave Memorial for James lists him as James O., even though the obituary gives his name as James A., and his death certificate says James Alexander.

_____________

My maternal great-grandparents, Mary Pyterek and Stanislaus Orbik of South Chicago, Illinois, also were no strangers to infant death. 

After the births of Mary and Stanley's children, Harry, Eugenia, and Jennie, the couple welcomed a girl, Helen Josephine, in September 1908. Helen died the following August "of pneumonia (probably tubercular)."

The couple had a son, Alfred, in early September 1916. He died of "acute ileocolitis" the day after Christmas.

Both Helen and Alfred are buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City, Cook County, Illinois.

_________________

This is a post for Week 9 of Amy Johnson Crow's initiative, #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

52 Ancestors, Week 7: Outcast

Week 7's theme for Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" is Outcast.

My great-grandmother Iowa Hale Speed had a brother, Landon, nicknamed Landy. Landy was named for Iowa's grandfather, Landon Ballinger. Censuses from 1870-1900 indicate that he could read and write, and was eligible to vote. All extant Iowa State Censuses that ask about education indicate the same. However, the answers for the 1910 census questions "Whether able to read" and "Whether able to write," are both "No." Landon was employed mostly as a teamster, and also hauled coal. He never married.

A cousin of my dad's told us that her father would visit Landon at the County Home, and staff had to take his shoes because otherwise he would run away. When Landon died in 1937, a secondary diagnosis was dementia praecox, today known as schizophrenia.

__________

My Polish maternal grandfather had a brother, Bronislaw, whose name was Americanized to Barney. Barney's World War II Draft Card shows him as age 38, unemployed. His penmanship is very poor as compared to his older siblings, so the penmanship does not appear to be related to the amount of education he received. He did not marry.

In a newspaper article from 1951, Barney appealed to the South Chicago Police to give him a bunk for the night. He testified that he had no home, and said "I have a few relatives, but they have their families to take care of." He stated that he used to stay at a mission on 92nd Street. Three years before, he was beaten up in a local park, and his kneecap was broken. He stated that since then, he's spent seven or eight months of every year at the County Hospital. 

Barney died in 1957 of a heart ailment. 

52 Ancestors, Week 1: I'd Like to Meet...

For the past few years, my friend Amy Johnson Crow has featured a writing prompt called "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks." I've been bad about writing and blogging regularly (all you have to do is look at the dates of my previous posts, LOL!). This is the year I actually stick to it. I'm not getting off to a promising start, though - Amy's already posted prompts for Week 3, and here I am, blogging for Week 1. Oh well!

Week 1's prompt is "I'd like to meet..."  I’d like to have met my great-grandmother, Margaret Donley Herrick McCabe. Born in England, she and her family came to the US in the early 1880s.  She died in 1950, six years before I was born. So, I think I'll ask Maggie as if she were still here.

Margaret Donley
Herrick McCabe

• Did your family all immigrate to the U.S. together? Or did some of you arrive first, and the others followed? When and from where did you arrive in the U.S.?
• It appears that your family lived in Iowa in 1885. How did you wind up in PA in 1893? Where did the other family members go?
• How did you meet Harry Herrick? He had been in Texas, and returned to Washington, Pennsylvania sometime around the death of his grandmother Jane. Was it a love match? A one-night stand? 
• When and why did you and Harry split? Did you formally divorce? (I hope so, because you later married Robert McCabe, so...) When and where did you and Harry divorce? Did you ever have contact with him again? When did you divorce McCabe (or did you)?
• Was Julia Donley a sister of yours? If so, why do I not find any connection between her and her siblings?
• Most importantly, who were your parents — John Donley and Katherine Kelley? Or Patrick Donley and Margaret Kelley?

So many questions; so few answers. Maggie, why did you use Donley, but your eldest brother Robert used Donlon? Speaking of Robert, why did my dad hear from his dad — your son — about various family members, but not a peep did Dad mention a Robert? Heck, Maggie, Robert even lived in East Palestine, Ohio, the town in which Dad was born. 

I'd love to know the answers to the most mundane questions. Did you speak with a British accent? What were your favorite foods? What kind of mother were you: the soft, nurturing kind? A hard-as-nails badass? What made you decide to leave Iowa behind and come to Chicago? What (or who) was here for you?

DNA and genealogical research will help answer some questions, but there will be others that go unanswered forever, and that's a shame.

Well, it's obvious that I haven't been blogging! I refuse to feel guilty; after all, that's why this blog is named as it is. I've been helping with some local Civil War research, doing some Unclaimed Persons stuff, finishing an Indiana Genealogical Society newsletter, preparing blog posts for FGS 2013 as part of the local publicity committee; creating and teaching Library Education Unit classes for library staff, doing a few presentations, and other matters.

On the research front in the past year, I was surprised to find Dad's great-aunt Kate (Katherine/Kathryn? Donelly Morgan) buried in East Palestine, Ohio (thank you, Find A Grave!). Dad was born there; his parents moved there to find work at the behest of Kate's son, Grant Morgan, who was Grandpa Charlie Herrick's cousin and best friend, and who is also buried in EP. So I don't know why it should surprise me to find Kate and Grant there, but it did. I don't know if Dad's family kept track of Kate in later years. 

Finding that helped lead to other records showing that Kate seemed to be married to Thomas Morgan. Grant is listed in various records as Thomas G. and Grant T... after his father, apparently. I'm guessing Kate & Thomas divorced, since I think Thomas appears in later censuses, while Dad knew Kate's husb (friend? Significant Other?) Louis/Lewis Henderson as "Uncle Lou." (Um, okay, was Kate the one who ate her dessert first, or the one who drove all the way from Chicago to Ohio, but didn't know how to back up? Or maybe she was both of them. The stories are mixing in my head.)

I may have even found g-gm Maggie and Kate's other sister, whom Dad called "Aunt Mary Liz" Bishop. Seems as though Mary Donelly married an Edward Curtis in Rock Island Co., IL, and had at least 2 children (daughters). I don't know what happened to Edward, but Mary later marries Rankin Bishop and they reside in Iowa with the Curtis girls. All this, of course, needs documentation, etc. I found the online stuff but of course have not gotten around to the nitty-gritty of documenting, charting, etc. because my name is Linda and I am a procrastinator. Still, it's further ahead than I was at this time last year, for which I'm grateful.

Census Goal: Discovering Donnellys

Twelve days and counting until the 1940 U.S. Census. Dad spoke of many of his Iowa relatives, and I'll get a chance to find them. I want to see Dad's grandmother, Margaret Donnelly Herrick McCabe. In 1940 great-grandma would be in Chicago, where she operated a rooming house (no, Jana Sloan Broglin, not the kind your Aunt Merle had!). Dad said that when Margaret first came to Chicago, she was a lady barber, and her shop was across the street from the Coliseum at 12th and Michigan. I believe the Coliseum was made from the original Libby Prison, the famous Civil War prison.

I want to find Margaret's sister, Katherine Donnelly Morgan. Just a few months ago, I found that Dad's Aunt Kate had gone back to Ohio and is buried near her son, Grant. Is Kate enumerated in 1940 in Chicago with Louis Henderson? Dad always called him "Uncle Louie," but it was years before Dad's mother told him that Kate and Louis were not married. I believe he and Kate are listed as Henderson in 1930. Stories are running together in my mind. Was Aunt Kate the one who ate her dessert first? Or was she the one who drove all the way to Ohio without knowing how to back up?

I want to find out more about Aunt Mary Liz Donnelly Bishop. She apparently was the sister of Katherine and Margaret, but I've never found enough to locate her beyond a doubt. Or at least to differentiate her from other Marys. Dad said she was in Iowa as well.

The Donnelly boys intrigue me also. Dad said his grandmother had at least three brothers: Eddie, Matt and Jim; also possibly a John and a Tom. One of the boys may have been a boxer. One of them supposedly went to California and did either truck farming or acting.

Many years ago, I recall riding in a car with Dad, Uncle Bill and other relatives. I think we were out of town for a family function. When we stopped in Spring Valley, IL, Uncle Bill said that the Donnellys had lived there. I had never heard that from Dad. I wonder if they were miners.

So. The Census Goal is to find Donnellys. Genealogists are told to "start with yourself" and 1940 is as close to starting with myself as I'm likely to get, at least for another 10 years. Finding Margaret's parents will be a kick. Margaret's death certificate lists her parents as Patrick Donnelly and Katherine Kelly, while her marriage license to Robert McCabe lists her parents as Thomas Donley and Margaret Kelly. Sheesh. (Not as hard as tracing Smiths, but definitely harder than Mom's Polish side.)